


For good or for awesome

by qwanderer



Series: atTempted [2]
Category: Good Omens (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Conflicted Pining, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 17:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19705744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qwanderer/pseuds/qwanderer
Summary: The man at the bar doesn’t capture Tony’s notice, at least not until Loki approaches him. But once Loki does extend a hand in the man’s direction, Tony looks, and immediately recognizes the smirk in response, the - everything. The whole schtick. Attitude used as a shield. Humor and suaveness used to hide pain.And skinny jeans. Tony definitely notices the skinny jeans. Who wears skinny jeans to a black tie reception?Tony makes a mental note to try that.





	For good or for awesome

Tony is watching the room from behind his sunglasses. There are people here he should be paying attention to, and other people he’s been advised by many people to ignore.

Likely not many people would be surprised to know where his eyes are pointing. But the sunglasses are all about plausible deniability.

Loki’s outfit revolves around a bright, emerald green scarf. Tailored black pants make him look impossibly long and lean. And there’s a subtle textural difference between the matte black of his crisp button-up and the black sheen of the vest he’s wearing overtop, only visible if you’re looking closely.

Tony almost can’t help himself.

So the lines of the black outfit are tight and clean, and layered over it is the scarf, the soft, heavy, almost-certainly-real-silk fibers draping here and clinging there.

He wonders idly if this is just how Loki likes to dress, or if this is what one might call a targeted attack.

The man at the bar doesn’t capture Tony’s notice, at least not until Loki approaches him. But once Loki does extend a hand in the man’s direction, Tony looks, and immediately recognizes the smirk in response, the - everything. The whole schtick. Attitude used as a shield. Humor and suaveness used to hide pain. 

And skinny jeans. Tony definitely notices the skinny jeans. Who wears skinny jeans to a black tie reception?

Tony makes a mental note to try that.

It’s shortly after that that all his mental processes are completely derailed by the sight of the man in the skinny jeans practically winding himself around Loki, in an activity that might be loosely referred to as “dancing,” except most people would only dignify it with that title in the kind of place with music into much higher decibels and a much greater incidence of strobe lights.

It’s, uh. Hot. 

Tony briefly wonders if it’s a show put on for him, a clone in disguise, but then the red-haired man laughs gleefully at something Loki says and winds his arms around Loki’s neck, settling into an embrace that’s, while still very much indecent, also clearly affectionate. 

Genuine? Possibly. It looks it. 

Why does that make things worse? The guy might be a villain most days, but from what Tony has heard he’s been through a lot, and deserves some things to go his way. Deserves someone who can throw themselves into Loki’s sphere and simply enjoy his mischievous nature. 

But the sight makes Tony’s hand clench around his glass, anxiety rising in his throat.

What’s he afraid of? He could tell himself it’s about the trouble Loki could get up to with a true partner in crime, but he knows that’s a lie. Loki hasn’t been on the list of top ten greatest threats to Earth in years. These days it’d be more accurate to say he’s a threat to Thor, and even that’s questionable. 

No, Tony knows what he’s afraid of. 

Being too late. 

Not taking Loki up on his invitations, and finding that he’s moved on to a new asshole in dark glasses, someone who makes it easier for Loki to get what he wants. 

Tony wants Loki, too. But it’s… complicated.

Beside Tony, someone clears their throat. 

When Tony looks over, there’s a guy who looks like he escaped from one of the university libraries and got lost. (Tony’s familiar, that also describes what Bruce looks like, but this guy has more of a local feel.)

The guy gestures to the “dancing” couple. “Who is that fellow, do you know him?” His voice, which is very English, gently snooty but a little more expressive than Jarvis, confirms Tony’s guesses.

“Which one?” Tony asks curiously. “Loki, or the guy draped over him like a cat in heat?”

“Oh,” the guy says, voice brightening with recognition, “Loki as in the trickster God? I suppose that does make sense.” He continues to survey the dancers over his own amber-hued glass. He doesn’t seem offended or intimidated, just… well. The same as Tony, really. As if he suspects that the display in front of them has a good chance of being a deliberate case of his personal temptation incarnate.

Tony hums thoughtfully. “Loki the trickster god, you say as if that’s just a normal thing. Dealt with him before?”

The guy’s gaze flicks away from the dancers long enough to assess Tony. “Not him, per se, but let us call it a hobby of mine to protect the world from external threats, as it were.”

“Hero, then.” Tony tilts his head. “Human, or otherwise?”

The guy gives a tiny, slightly pouting smirk. “Otherwise, as it happens. What gave it away?”

Tony scrunches up his nose. “Eh. Little things.” He turns his attention back to the two figures on the dance floor. “So you know the other guy? Friend of yours?

“Yes. No! Well. Probably.”

It’d be confusing, if it didn’t sound so familiar. “External threat?” he asks.

The unidentified hero hems and haws for a moment, eyeing Tony thoughtfully, and then sighs. "Not exactly. And not exactly by choice, either. He faces… pressures beyond what I can even begin to understand. There are some days I believe that he is helpless in the face of his own nature. There are others when I see something that makes me believe he can defy all that and become a force for good.”

There’s a moment of silence.

“That’s, uh.” Tony clears his throat. “Surprisingly relatable.”

The guy gives him a meaningful look that is at once gleeful and sad.

The red-haired man takes Loki by the hand, then, and saunters away towards the elevators with his demigod prize in tow. It’s clear what they’re planning to get up to… or at least, what they want people to think they’re getting up to.

“How likely do you think it is that they…”

The English dude purses his lips. “Well, he does take credit for much more wrongdoing than he actually gets up to, most days. His employers expect it of him. But they did seem to be… genuinely enjoying each other’s company.”

“So, even odds?”

“Why do you care?” The guy’s blue eyes are suddenly piercing. 

“Not my business, I know.”

With the other two gone, Tony finds himself under the full scrutiny of that piercing gaze, and he was right to compare him to Bruce. There’s hidden power there. 

“But you’d like it to be,” he says, clearly more a statement than a question, or even a guess.

Tony makes a noncommittal noise. He’s happier than ever that he snuck his sunglasses in here. 

In a very careful tone, the Englishman says, “You could make an offer.”

Tony makes a moue. “Uh, yeah. My side wouldn’t like that.”

The corners of the man’s mouth wobble up with suppressed mirth. “Surprisingly relatable.”

Nothing else is said. Despite the absence of the two supposed villains, they continue to gaze at that spot on the dance floor. 

The Englishman sighs. After a moment, Tony follows suit.

**Author's Note:**

> Catch me on Tumblr, either for [ fandom/personal stuff](http://qwanderer.tumblr.com) or for [ books I've written](http://irenewendywode.com)


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